Intergenerational church participation connects what children experience at home, what parents practice with them and how religious habits change over time. Recent U.S. surveys show that monthly attendance is more common among children of Protestant parents than Catholic parents, while shared prayer and family worship remain important parts of religious life. The figures below identify the survey period and population measured so that current family practice is not confused with childhood memories or generational comparisons.
Contents
- Attendance across parents and children
- Parents and teens worshiping together
- Religious practice in the home
- Childhood religious upbringing and adult identity
- Age and generational participation gaps
- Family structure, marriage and continuity
Attendance across parents and children
The May 2025 survey of U.S. parents of children under 18 found that 43% said their children attended religious services at least monthly. The same measure varied by the parent’s religious tradition: 61% of Protestant parents said their children attended at least monthly, compared with 47% of Catholic parents. These are reports about children’s attendance, not direct attendance counts from congregations. Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025).
The age of the children also matters when comparing present and past family experience. Among parents of grown children, 63% said their children had attended religious services at least monthly while growing up. Among current parents of minors, 43% said the same about their children. The two figures describe different generations of children and should not be read as a trend measured in one unchanged group. Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025).
The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study measured parents’ own participation as well. Among U.S. adults currently raising children, 26% said they attended religious services at least weekly and another 9% attended once or twice a month. In the same study, roughly two-thirds of parents said they had attended religious services at least monthly when they were growing up. Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
Parents and teens worshiping together
Pew’s 2019 survey, reported in 2020, shows that teenagers who attended worship at least occasionally usually did so with family or another known group. Four-in-ten said they generally attended with both parents, while a quarter attended with one parent. Seven percent generally went with grandparents, other relatives or friends, and only 1% said they attended alone. Pew Research Center, “Family religious practices in the U.S.” (2019 survey).
The reported companion differed across traditions and levels of religious importance. About six-in-ten evangelical Protestant teens said they attended worship with both parents, compared with 49% of Catholic teens and 45% of mainline Protestant teens. Among teens who said religion was very important in their lives, six-in-ten attended with both parents. That compared with 46% among teens who said religion was somewhat important and 22% among those who said it was not too or not at all important. Pew Research Center, “Family religious practices in the U.S.” (2019 survey).
Unaffiliated teens were less likely to report worship with both parents, but family participation was still present. Fourteen percent of all unaffiliated teens attended worship with both parents and 13% attended with one parent. These figures describe teens who attended worship at least occasionally where specified; they do not estimate the share of all unaffiliated teens who worshiped. Pew Research Center, “Family religious practices in the U.S.” (2019 survey).
An earlier Pew Religious Landscape Study found that, among all parents of children under 18, 65% said they usually attended worship services with their children. The reported shares were 83% among evangelical parents, 78% among Catholic parents and 67% among mainline Protestant parents. The study covered 2014–15, so these figures provide an earlier reference point rather than a current estimate. Pew Research Center, “Religion in marriages and families” (2014–15 Religious Landscape Study).
Religious practice in the home
Church participation is not limited to attendance. In May 2025, 63% of parents said their children regularly took part in at least one of five measured religious activities: night prayer, prayer at meals, religious stories, religious music or religious arts and crafts. The individual activities show how varied family practice can be:
| Activity reported by parents | Children regularly taking part |
|---|---|
| Night prayer | 46% |
| Grace or prayer before meals | 43% |
| Reading religious stories | 43% |
| Listening to religious music | 37% |
| Religious arts and crafts | 28% |
Source: Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025).
More than one activity was common for a smaller share. Twenty-seven percent of parents said their children regularly took part in at least four of the five activities. The figure was 42% among Protestant parents and 25% among Catholic parents. Because the activities can overlap, the percentages should not be added together. Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025).
Conversation is another intergenerational practice. In the 2019 teen survey, 59% of U.S. teens said they talked about religion with their family at least sometimes, including 19% who did so often. Twenty-eight percent said they talked about religion rarely and 12% said they never did. Pew Research Center, “Family religious practices in the U.S.” (2019 survey).
Childhood religious upbringing and adult identity
The 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study found that 86% of U.S. adults said they were raised in a religion. That included 80% who were raised Christian and 6% who were raised in another religion. Childhood attendance was also substantial: 56% said they attended religious services weekly or more often as children, and another 11% attended once or twice a month. Forty-five percent said religion was very important to their family while they were growing up. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ childhood religious identities, practices, education” (2023–24).
Among adults raised Christian, 78% said they attended church at least monthly as children, including 63% who attended at least weekly. Half of adults raised Christian said religion was very important to their family during childhood: 49% among those raised Protestant and 51% among those raised Catholic. By comparison, among adults raised without a religious affiliation, 17% said they attended religious services at least monthly as children, while 69% said religion was not too or not at all important to their family and 15% said it was very important. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ childhood religious identities, practices, education” (2023–24).
Childhood patterns were associated with adult religious identity, although these statistics do not establish causation. Among people raised Protestant who grew up attending church monthly in families where religion was very important, 80% still identified as Protestant in 2023–24. Among people raised Protestant who attended a few times a year or less in families where religion was not very important, 57% still identified as Protestant. Among Catholics raised in religious families, 16% were religiously unaffiliated as adults and 15% identified with a religion other than Catholicism. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ childhood religious identities, practices, education” (2023–24).
Age and generational participation gaps
The 2023–24 RLS shows wide differences by age in current religious participation. Twenty-five percent of adults ages 18 to 24 said they attended religious services at least monthly, compared with 49% of adults ages 74 and older. Christian identification also differed: 46% of adults ages 18 to 24 identified as Christian, compared with 80% of those ages 74 and older. Daily prayer was reported by 27% of the younger group and 58% of the older group. Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
The age gap is not identical across every measure. Forty-seven percent of adults ages 18 to 24 said religion was very important to their family while growing up, compared with 44% of adults ages 74 and older. This measure concerns family importance during childhood, not current attendance. Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
Generational differences also appear in religious exposure during childhood. Ninety-four percent of adults born before 1950 said they were raised in a religion, compared with 81% of those born from 1990 to 1999 and 75% of adults born from 2000 through 2006. Two-thirds of the oldest U.S. adults said they grew up attending religious services at least weekly, while only about half of the youngest adults said the same. Pew Research Center, “Americans’ childhood religious identities, practices, education” and Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
Formal religious education shows a similar difference. Half of the oldest adults said they received seven or more years of formal religious education as children, compared with 19% of the youngest adults. Forty-two percent of the youngest adults said they received no formal religious education, compared with 20% of the oldest adults. Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
Among Millennials in Pew’s 2019 analysis, 22% said they attended worship services at least weekly and 22% said they never attended. That earlier estimate covers 2018–19 and should be kept separate from the 2023–24 age measures. Pew Research Center, “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace” (2018–19).
Family structure, marriage and continuity
In May 2025, 81% of parents of children under 18 said they and their children had the same religion. Among parents of adult children, 64% said their children had the same religion as they did. The difference compares parents at different family stages, not necessarily a before-and-after result for the same families. Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025).
Parents also described different roles in religious upbringing. Thirty-nine percent of mothers said they took the lead in their children’s religious upbringing, compared with 17% of fathers. In the 2023–24 RLS, 40% of parents of minor children said they sent a child to religious education or a private religious school, and 42% of parents living with minor children said they read scripture or prayed with their children. Pew Research Center, “How are US parents raising their children, religiously?” (May 2025); Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
Marriage can also shape the religious setting children experience. In the 2023–24 RLS, 26% of married adults said their spouse had a different religious identity, nearly unchanged from 25% in 2014. Among Protestants, 68% of those married to another Protestant said religion was very important in their lives, compared with 38% of Protestants married to a non-Protestant. Among Catholics, 49% of those married to another Catholic said they attended church at least once or twice a month, compared with 28% of Catholics married to a non-Catholic. Pew Research Center, “US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)” (2023–24).
An earlier family measure found that 83% of married parents who shared their spouse’s religious affiliation said they attended worship services with their children. This estimate comes from the 2014–15 Religious Landscape Study and is best read as historical context for how shared spousal affiliation and shared worship were connected in that study. Pew Research Center, “Religion in marriages and families” (2014–15 Religious Landscape Study).